That’s the point. The one part of human nature they actually get right is our persistence hunting. We wear our prey out to make it easier to kill. The RWNJs have tapped into that persistence to defeat reasonable people. It is how they got Roe v. Wade, it’s how they keep winning elections despite being responsible for the majority of the problems folks want to fix, and it’s how they are fighting the culture wars. Constant, persistent attacks from every angle, small battles in local government, the middle ground at the states and just the barrage of lies and manipulations from the top brass in federal government. Just to keep the left exhausted, unable to fight every battle, unable to show up in their lives and fight the good fight at the same time.
They know that there is no constitutional way to make these two books illegal, but they will write a law anyway, because they already have the librarians on defense, they can make the law and it will be effective while the library fights it in court, then when the libraries win, the books will be forgotten and a new battle over different books will be waged. All the while they’re spreading lies about the books, and the libraries, indoctrination and pornographers and so on, so that the communities lose trust in the libraries and librarians, eventually they think they can succeed in completely defunding and eliminating the library system altogether. Education, healthcare, welfare and all the good things about the USA and even modern society are under attack this way.
Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw, all of it unencumbered by the thought process. Left up to these politicians America's public libraries would be reduced to the intellectual depth of a Christian bookstore.
The patriarch of my mother's extended family once entered our home (for some reason.)
He was actually offended by walls of books on bookshelves. According to him, there's only need for ONE BOOK in any home. (And as I've mentioned before, our contractor did NOT like our copy of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.)
I have two rooms whose primary purpose is for books. Plus there are full bookshelves in three other rooms. The one book he would prefer to be the only book in the home? I can lay my hands on at least 7 copies in several translations in two languages within five minutes at home. Along with several books that he would consider demonic. And likely many that would be above his reading level.
Same here. Unlike these idiots, I actually read the bible, the whole thing, including Apocrypha--three times, in three different English translations, and most of the OT in a Modern Hebrew translation. I've got two of those English translations on my hallway bookshelves now. Plus a whole boatload of kids' books I read to my nephew when he was little. (Yeah, above comprehension level for most of these morons.) I often joke that, if the world goes nuclear, my personal library could contribute to the rebuilding of civilization.
I hope you're right, and something good will remain to build from, Diane.
I can still remember Dad reading the classics to us when we were little.
Thank you for the memory, Dianne. I lost both parents (to age and dementia, at home) during Covid, and I appreciate being reminded of them more than you may realize.
Nice memories. When I was in the hospital, at the age of two, my dad would come visit every day and bring a kids' book to read (sometimes in French, sometimes in English.) I credit him with keeping me sane in the year after getting out of the hospital by reading to me, and for being the first person to realize that, although I wasn't talking (my therapist later called that "traumatic mutism"), I was reading on my own. For all his faults, I miss dad, who died in 2007. Thanks for sharing your memories also.
WOW! Kudos, Joe!! Fer shur, reading is FUNdamental!!
I still buy, but read less. (I feel I abandon my principles if I don't check a news feed every 3 minutes.) When I was a kid I can remember reading up to 400 pages "in bed" before rising for the day.
I even have the first 2 volumes of a 3-volume 1823 UK Bible, with dozens of genuine engravings in each (as evidenced by plate marks on the reverse of each.) Estimated value of $5,000. (I paid about $25 at a rural auction. Religion has value!)
Unfortunately, the missing 3rd volume (New Testament) is the only one I have a personal interest in. I really do value the Sermon On the Mount, and I think Jesus meant it as well. It breaks my heart to see Christians(sic) (as I thought of myself as a child) abandon it so thoroughly.
I bet it's the Bible, right? The Bible no one for the most part reads entirely, but reads only some passages and verses that suits them and nothing else.
Reminds me one-time of when my MIL came to my house and they saw 2 books "The Devil's Dictionary" and "The Encyclopedia Of Witchcraft & Demonology" and thought they were literal witchcraft or Satanist books, and I asked her why she would think that based on the title and she could literally just open them up and check, before explaining that they are in fact either just informational or slight satire. She felt a bit dumb after that.
We also have to remember that they aren't doing this performance for us. They are doing it for their voters and people that are low info within the MAGA bubble. People who also don't read books or won't put any effort in to make sure the information they are getting is in good faith or honest.
We generally can't know if they're ACTUALLY stupid, or they're simply being performatively so (as it becomes increasingly difficult to "out-stupid" President Stupid.)
After years and years of observation, it seems to me that both are required to be either. You must be a snowflake to be a bully and a bully to live as a snowflake.
I don’t remember at the moment where I read this but it is a brilliant retort to the “almost all the Founders were Christians” nonsense. “Yes, and almost all the Founders wore powdered wigs but that doesn’t mean that our nation was founded on powdered wigs.”
If you're a kkkonservative xtian GQPer and want to keep foul, vile books out of the hands of children? Start with the bible. The stuff in that hideous tome would scar children for life.
Maybe it's something unique to Missouri, but since when is it in the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State of a state (yes, I know the redundancy of that word is rhetorically awkward, but I'm trying to distinguish from the FEDERAL Secretary of State cabinet position) to oversee public library content/events, anyway?
Repubs make the claim "we don't BAN books. We just protect children."
But if a book is no longer available to a child because of unavailability in any public library, that likely means having to pay full-price in a bookstore, if there even is one nearby, and small children don't typically have that sort of money, especially not now.
It's just a means of controlling the narrative before children learn the truth about how very average the average LGBTQ community member is. It can be really hard to hate such normal, regular people when the truth comes out.
I'm reminded of this guy "Parker" on YouTube, who is constantly taking on MAGAs (even some who appear to have a glimmer of intelligence) and basically showing off how utterly ignorant they are of the current situation in the US and its administration. "Poorly educated," indeed!
I've been watching Jon Cohen-unconvinced on YouTube for a few weeks now. The xtians who call in are abysmally uneducated and it is often hard to believe the level of ignorance they show the world, all while convinced they are geniuses.
We need a decisive win in November across the board. People need to be motivated to vote. We need to vote out all incumbent republicans, end new Republican careers, and vote for every progressive democratic candidate we can get. Send a message to all politicians that we expect the government to work for us and not themselves or the corporations and oligarchs. If that doesn’t work, well… what can we do but revolt.
These assholes need to be put in their place, the dustbin of history, and removed from influence over anyone.
They’re picture books and if you can’t bother yourself to read them, then you shouldn’t speak about them, especially if you want to ban them. Are you gonna ban Rainbow Fish because there’s rainbows mentioned? Or books about clowns because they have wigs? Or how about Where’s Waldo, I’m certain both rainbows and wigs are present in pretty much every page of those books.
Let’s not forget that the bible has graphic sex, violence and sexual deviance throughout, but you won’t ever consider that it might not be appropriate for the library. (I believe it does belong in the library, I’m not saying we should ban it, just that it is rife with the crap they claim ought to be banned).
Lisa is a notorious, out-of-print 1984 fundamentalist Christian comic book written by Jack T. Chick and illustrated by Fred Carter. It remains the only Chick tract to be officially pulled from circulation by [Chick Publications] due to severe backlash over its deeply controversial plot.
Fortunately, Jack Chick is no longer breathing. Unfortunately, Chick Publications is still going and is allied with Tony Alamo Ministries (whose leader died in prison serving a 175-year prison sentence for child molestation).
Man, this shit is exhausting.
I can't remember ever being so exhausted by trying to do good.
That’s the point. The one part of human nature they actually get right is our persistence hunting. We wear our prey out to make it easier to kill. The RWNJs have tapped into that persistence to defeat reasonable people. It is how they got Roe v. Wade, it’s how they keep winning elections despite being responsible for the majority of the problems folks want to fix, and it’s how they are fighting the culture wars. Constant, persistent attacks from every angle, small battles in local government, the middle ground at the states and just the barrage of lies and manipulations from the top brass in federal government. Just to keep the left exhausted, unable to fight every battle, unable to show up in their lives and fight the good fight at the same time.
They know that there is no constitutional way to make these two books illegal, but they will write a law anyway, because they already have the librarians on defense, they can make the law and it will be effective while the library fights it in court, then when the libraries win, the books will be forgotten and a new battle over different books will be waged. All the while they’re spreading lies about the books, and the libraries, indoctrination and pornographers and so on, so that the communities lose trust in the libraries and librarians, eventually they think they can succeed in completely defunding and eliminating the library system altogether. Education, healthcare, welfare and all the good things about the USA and even modern society are under attack this way.
Republicans pander to the preachers while viewing human decency as a character flaw, all of it unencumbered by the thought process. Left up to these politicians America's public libraries would be reduced to the intellectual depth of a Christian bookstore.
The patriarch of my mother's extended family once entered our home (for some reason.)
He was actually offended by walls of books on bookshelves. According to him, there's only need for ONE BOOK in any home. (And as I've mentioned before, our contractor did NOT like our copy of Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary.)
I have two rooms whose primary purpose is for books. Plus there are full bookshelves in three other rooms. The one book he would prefer to be the only book in the home? I can lay my hands on at least 7 copies in several translations in two languages within five minutes at home. Along with several books that he would consider demonic. And likely many that would be above his reading level.
Reading is fundamental.
Same here. Unlike these idiots, I actually read the bible, the whole thing, including Apocrypha--three times, in three different English translations, and most of the OT in a Modern Hebrew translation. I've got two of those English translations on my hallway bookshelves now. Plus a whole boatload of kids' books I read to my nephew when he was little. (Yeah, above comprehension level for most of these morons.) I often joke that, if the world goes nuclear, my personal library could contribute to the rebuilding of civilization.
I hope you're right, and something good will remain to build from, Diane.
I can still remember Dad reading the classics to us when we were little.
Thank you for the memory, Dianne. I lost both parents (to age and dementia, at home) during Covid, and I appreciate being reminded of them more than you may realize.
Nice memories. When I was in the hospital, at the age of two, my dad would come visit every day and bring a kids' book to read (sometimes in French, sometimes in English.) I credit him with keeping me sane in the year after getting out of the hospital by reading to me, and for being the first person to realize that, although I wasn't talking (my therapist later called that "traumatic mutism"), I was reading on my own. For all his faults, I miss dad, who died in 2007. Thanks for sharing your memories also.
Joe,
WOW! Kudos, Joe!! Fer shur, reading is FUNdamental!!
I still buy, but read less. (I feel I abandon my principles if I don't check a news feed every 3 minutes.) When I was a kid I can remember reading up to 400 pages "in bed" before rising for the day.
I even have the first 2 volumes of a 3-volume 1823 UK Bible, with dozens of genuine engravings in each (as evidenced by plate marks on the reverse of each.) Estimated value of $5,000. (I paid about $25 at a rural auction. Religion has value!)
Unfortunately, the missing 3rd volume (New Testament) is the only one I have a personal interest in. I really do value the Sermon On the Mount, and I think Jesus meant it as well. It breaks my heart to see Christians(sic) (as I thought of myself as a child) abandon it so thoroughly.
I bet it's the Bible, right? The Bible no one for the most part reads entirely, but reads only some passages and verses that suits them and nothing else.
I'm sorely tempted to begin referring to white Christians as "Cherrypickers".
Yes, apparently the only book worth owning is The Bible.
Reminds me one-time of when my MIL came to my house and they saw 2 books "The Devil's Dictionary" and "The Encyclopedia Of Witchcraft & Demonology" and thought they were literal witchcraft or Satanist books, and I asked her why she would think that based on the title and she could literally just open them up and check, before explaining that they are in fact either just informational or slight satire. She felt a bit dumb after that.
We also have to remember that they aren't doing this performance for us. They are doing it for their voters and people that are low info within the MAGA bubble. People who also don't read books or won't put any effort in to make sure the information they are getting is in good faith or honest.
So true, PhillyT.
We generally can't know if they're ACTUALLY stupid, or they're simply being performatively so (as it becomes increasingly difficult to "out-stupid" President Stupid.)
Amazing how bullies can also be snowflakes at the same time.
After years and years of observation, it seems to me that both are required to be either. You must be a snowflake to be a bully and a bully to live as a snowflake.
Objecting to a kids book about a wig? Wait until they find out about what the founders wore.
I don’t remember at the moment where I read this but it is a brilliant retort to the “almost all the Founders were Christians” nonsense. “Yes, and almost all the Founders wore powdered wigs but that doesn’t mean that our nation was founded on powdered wigs.”
Plot twist: actually, the objectionable part was the dinosaur
On Senator Brattin's page:
"...𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 40-𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒."
I picture him wandering around his property hunting for a clue.
He won't find one there. A clue's natural habitat is a library.
"...hunting for a clue." And utterly failing to find one.
Hunting paradise (read: kill zone).
Killing animals for sport is obscene. And what happened to Thou Shalt Not Kill?
If you're a kkkonservative xtian GQPer and want to keep foul, vile books out of the hands of children? Start with the bible. The stuff in that hideous tome would scar children for life.
It definitely scarred me.
Mark Twain, too. He wrote about it.
Maybe it's something unique to Missouri, but since when is it in the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State of a state (yes, I know the redundancy of that word is rhetorically awkward, but I'm trying to distinguish from the FEDERAL Secretary of State cabinet position) to oversee public library content/events, anyway?
Words are terrifying. ~ Trumpublicans
So is rational thought. It's ever so much easier to blindly believe and never question anything.
> "...the ignorant Republican base"
AKA basket of deplorables.
Repubs make the claim "we don't BAN books. We just protect children."
But if a book is no longer available to a child because of unavailability in any public library, that likely means having to pay full-price in a bookstore, if there even is one nearby, and small children don't typically have that sort of money, especially not now.
It's just a means of controlling the narrative before children learn the truth about how very average the average LGBTQ community member is. It can be really hard to hate such normal, regular people when the truth comes out.
Missouri education ranking: #32 in Education. Republicans don't want kids that can read because the poorly educated are how they stay in power.
I'm reminded of this guy "Parker" on YouTube, who is constantly taking on MAGAs (even some who appear to have a glimmer of intelligence) and basically showing off how utterly ignorant they are of the current situation in the US and its administration. "Poorly educated," indeed!
I've been watching Jon Cohen-unconvinced on YouTube for a few weeks now. The xtians who call in are abysmally uneducated and it is often hard to believe the level of ignorance they show the world, all while convinced they are geniuses.
The show me state has to show me actual harm that has occurred because of the presence of these two books. Show me!
But-but-but ... the book said "RAINBOW!!!" Right out there for all to see! 😱😱😱
𝐼𝑛 2024, 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒’𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑝𝑖𝑠𝑡’𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑜𝑓 “ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔” 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠. 𝐻𝑒’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑎 “𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑥𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔.”
Of course he sees women as things and gays as less than human. Is his wife OK? Are his children? Perhaps someone needs to check on them.
One wonders if Brattin has had an operation to remove his mirror neurons. It sure looks that way.
We need a decisive win in November across the board. People need to be motivated to vote. We need to vote out all incumbent republicans, end new Republican careers, and vote for every progressive democratic candidate we can get. Send a message to all politicians that we expect the government to work for us and not themselves or the corporations and oligarchs. If that doesn’t work, well… what can we do but revolt.
These assholes need to be put in their place, the dustbin of history, and removed from influence over anyone.
They’re picture books and if you can’t bother yourself to read them, then you shouldn’t speak about them, especially if you want to ban them. Are you gonna ban Rainbow Fish because there’s rainbows mentioned? Or books about clowns because they have wigs? Or how about Where’s Waldo, I’m certain both rainbows and wigs are present in pretty much every page of those books.
Let’s not forget that the bible has graphic sex, violence and sexual deviance throughout, but you won’t ever consider that it might not be appropriate for the library. (I believe it does belong in the library, I’m not saying we should ban it, just that it is rife with the crap they claim ought to be banned).
Hey Republigelicals, I have an idea: Read the notorious Chick tract "Lisa" out loud to kids and their parents.
(I can just imagine the reaction by stunned parents)
From Google:
Lisa is a notorious, out-of-print 1984 fundamentalist Christian comic book written by Jack T. Chick and illustrated by Fred Carter. It remains the only Chick tract to be officially pulled from circulation by [Chick Publications] due to severe backlash over its deeply controversial plot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elAQ6H69zBY
That's the one.
Fortunately, Jack Chick is no longer breathing. Unfortunately, Chick Publications is still going and is allied with Tony Alamo Ministries (whose leader died in prison serving a 175-year prison sentence for child molestation).
Haw Haw Haw!